Couple making a renovation coexist with history

Nov. 11, 2012

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For space reasons, the November Local Shelf column will run Nov. 18. Submit information for the December column to jcoughlin@newsleader.com by the end of November.

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STAUNTON

When Fernando and Charlotte Bendfeldt realized they needed more room for their expanding family than their Fayette Street house offered, they looked around, then bought the house next door and renovated it to make it habitable — a long process that involved fixing crumbling walls, replacing plumbing and electrical systems and updating the kitchen.

“First, we knew we had to do the basics,” Charlotte said.

It was a long process — and a challenging one. The house was so rundown that at one point when they looked at it, Fernando said he wouldn’t take it if it was free.

“My wife had the vision of ‘We can make this the way we want,’ and I was like, ‘No.’ Thank god she had the vision,” he said.

The couple prefer older homes with character, and none of the developments in Waynesboro or Fishersville they looked at fit the bill. So they decided to tackle the huge project, even though it meant staying in their existing house until the new one was fit to live in. It’s wasn’t a smooth path.

“We even bailed the guy who did our drywall out of jail,” Fernando said.

When they decided again that they needed more space, the idea of repeating the process, including a substantial addition and a complete kitchen renovation, this time while living in the house, was daunting. But they had learned from the first renovation, applied those lessons and ended up with a house that keeps its historic character and has what they need to live there with their four children, who range in age from 15 to 6.

Lessons learned

The biggest difference between the two projects was how the Bendfeldts got the work done. The first time, in 2003, they had to get the basics taken care of.

“If you’re going to move in right away, you’re going to get hit with a lot right away,” Strassler said.

So the Bendfeldts went the subcontractor route, acting as their own contractors in a way. They had to find masons, painters, whatever specialty was needed to repair a home that was old enough to be a featured building on a 1891 perspective map of the city. The subcontractor route was cheaper than hiring a contractor who would manage the process, but what they gained in money, they lost in time and aggravation.

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Drywall was the biggest challenge. The first person they hired worked about a week, then quit.

“He just said, ‘I can’t do this,’ ” Fernando said.

The installer wasn’t intending to leave the couple hanging, Fernando said. He just got in over his head.

They found a replacement, but since the first person had used all the money they had already paid, it was an unexpected expense. Once the Bendfeldts found a new drywall installer, they ran into a second problem. One day Fernando, a doctor, was on duty at what was then Augusta Medical Center and the subcontractor’s girlfriend called to say he was in jail and the Bendfeldts needed to deal with it.

“Well, if you want him to finish your house, you’ve got to bail him out of jail,” she told Fernando, as he remembers it.

That was the most colorful story of a renovation that had lots of moments where Fernando said buying a new house seemed like the easier solution. So when they decided to add on to the house a few years later, there was no question what their first step was.

“Definitely, go with a contractor,” Fernando said.

That decision made, they went about all the other steps necessary for a project that size, complicated by the restrictions that living in one of the city’s five historic districts imposes — primarily the need to get the Historic Preservation Commission to agree that the planned changes were in character with the existing structure.

They selected Vailes Brothers, based on the recommendations of neighbors and others they knew who lived in older homes.

“That was night and day,” he said. “They, Vailes Brothers, were very well recommended by various people we came in contact with,” Fernando said. “Of course, that came with a price.”

But it was a price the family was willing to pay rather than move into a newer home.

Historic or new?

The Bendfeldts’ house has a long history. It’s one of three, all originally connected, that comprised the Staunton Female Seminary, a Lutheran women’s seminary back in the 19th century. They live in the left-hand side house if you’re looking up from the street. When they bought that house, they were living in the middle of the three, which was not part of the original seminary. At some point, Fernando said, the middle section of the school caught fire, and the school tore it down. The replacement was never connected with the buildings on either side, and the connective structures that weren’t destroyed in the fire were removed.

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The third house, back in 2003, was owned by Charlotte’s parents, who have since moved to another house in the neighborhood, which you can see from the Bendfeldts’ kitchen table in the new section. And when Charlotte and Fernando started dating, she was living in yet another house on Fayette Street, down on the corner.

“Essentially, we’ve owned a lot of homes around here,” he said.

What draws them to these homes are the history and the character, as well as the surrounding neighborhood. When the time came in 2006 to think about finding a home with more space, those ended up outweighing the cost and disruption. But they weren’t sure that would be the case.

“We really thought about, hey, before we invest in this house … let’s go look at other homes,” Fernando said.

They checked out Pelham Greene in Waynesboro, and some subdivisions near the hospital in Fishersville. The neighborhoods all had brick homes, but the newer ones just didn’t have the feel they wanted.

“They’re just not as charming,” Fernando said.

Beyond that, they like living in Newtown, with what they describe as a great group of neighbors. So that meant renovation. Not an easy task when the first step involves cutting through three-foot brick walls to take the back off the house. Fernando said that their choice isn’t the best one for everyone. Renovating, especially when you’re trying to keep it accurate, can be expensive. And even once the renovation is paid for, the maintenance means there’s always something that needs fixing.

“Upkeep in a house like this is not cheap,” Fernando said.

Strassler agreed. He suggested that historic homeowners — or anybody with an older home — plan cyclical maintenance, budgeting something each year. If you do plumbing one year, the roof the next, and so on, by the time you’ve finished the list, the plumbing probably needs more work.

That level of upkeep was something the Bendfeldts had to factor in on top of the project cost. They also had to contend with a lot of disruption, a challenge for a family with four children, two younger than 3.

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“Even when it’s what you want, it’s stressful,” Charlotte said. “I had one crawling next to the rubble.”

They also had their refrigerator in the downstairs hall and lived with only a microwave for cooking for the better part of a year.

What they wanted

The payoff for all that work? A house that has character, space and is designed to fit their needs. The addition expanded the kitchen, plus added dining space downstairs. Upstairs is home to a new master bedroom, and the back of the house now has a patio with steps down to the yard.

“Keep in mind what you really want out of it,” Fernando said.

In their case, that meant a lot of time and effort on the kitchen, something they designed themselves. They even bought software to help them lay out what they wanted so they could show Vailes Brothers.

For the overall project, Carter Green of Frazier Associates did the initial architectural work, and helped them design a project that would meet the city’s Historic Preservation Commission’s approval. At the time, Green was chairman, so he knew what would pass. The Bendfeldts also credit him with really bringing the project to life.

“He sparked everything into motion,” Fernando said.

The biggest thing the commission wanted to see was something that harmonized with the house and the neighborhood,

“They want to make sure it looks like it should have been there,” Fernando said.

Strassler, also a commission member, agreed. He said the keys are making sure new construction meshes well, without trying to make people think it’s part of the original structure. One big element is location — the commission prefers new construction be behind or on the side, rather than replacing the facade of the existing house. They also want the details to harmonize, such as the windows. Bendfeldt pointed to the windows, which use new materials, but have panes configured like the older ones.

“Each one of those windows cost us a lot,” Fernando said. “Trust me, there were cheaper ways to go.”

Although the commission only has jurisdiction over the exterior of the home, the Bendfeldts wanted the interior to be authentic as well. One of the reasons they decided against a new house was the quality of the materials. Hollow-core doors and synthetic crown moldings didn’t appeal to them. So though those would have been cheaper, that’s not the choice they made.

“In a house like this, I didn’t want fake stuff up,” Fernando said.

The renovation is a few years old now, and the Bendfeldts are still glad they went that route. If they had to make the decision a second time, they would make the same one — sticking with the historic home and its surroundings. Even though that means a few more bills than if they had bought new.

“It’s like an old car,” Fernando said. “You’ve got to keep loving it.”